The Secretary General of the General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions (GFBTU), Hassan Al-Halwachi, was surprized about the statement issued by an MP regarding the inclination of the Finance Committee in the House of Representatives to introduce a legislation allowing the use of the unemployment insurance fund savings to fund the general budget deficit.

The authorities in Bahrain International Airport prevented on Saturday, June 3, 2017 a delegation from the General Federation of Bahrain Trade Union (GFBTU) from traveling to Geneva to participate in the works of 106th session of International Labour Conference. Meanwhile, the authorities did not give the delegation any reason behind this surprising decision.

The General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions doubted the success of the “Parallel Bahrainisation System” after the government abolished the “contracting system”.

Jeroen Beirnaert, the ITUC representative, said in a speech that the confederation is “following with great concern the creation by and the support for the Bahrain Labour Union Free Federation by the government,” adding that the ITUC will never affiliate a government-orchestrated trade union.

The third general conference of the General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions (GFBTU) ended on a sad note after it was announced that the active member of the federation, Abdulameer Al-Shakhouri (58 years old) had passed away.

Maria Helena Andre, the International Labour Organization (ILO) Director of the Bureau for Workers’ Activities, attended the opening session of the third general conference of the GFBTU on Saturday (March 5, 2016) and delivered the ILO’s speech.

Hans Christian, the vice-president of the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions, attended the opening session of the third general conference of the General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions (GFBTU) that kicked off on Saturday (March 5, 2016).

The General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions (GFBTU) stated that the authorities prevented a number of international unionists from entering Bahrain to attend the GFBTU’s general conference and refused to grant visas to others.

The General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions GFBTU is electing a new secretary general on Monday 7th March 2016.